Witch Watch - Hardcover

Paul Coltman

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374384614 ISBN 13: 9780374384616

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1989

Synopsis

A boy hides, spying on an old witch and her black cat, Spitenscratch. One day she grabs him and brings him indoors to help with her chores.

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8-- This poem is the first-person account of a boy who watches an old "witch" and then is "bundled" in to help her with her chores. The text relies on a heavy English dialect that will invite children to do the same "translating" that they did in this author and illustrator's Tog the Ribber: Or Granny's Tales (Farrar, 1985). The illustrations also provide a challenge, for they are filled with subtle clues and false leads that must be read carefully to understand the story. In the first half of the book, the picture on the recto shows the actual events, but hidden within each of these is a mirror image that reflects another possibility. Flying above the text on the verso are various witches, including one with punk hair and a safety pin in her ear. In the second half of the book, the text and a small picture showing actual events face full left-page pictures showing the witches gathering and partying with Baba Yag. McClure uses frames filled with eerie plant and animal forms to surround her pictures; intriguing frames-within-frames on the dust jacket forshadow the final revealing picture. This is a thought-provoking picture book in the tradition of Molly Bang's The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher (Four Winds, 1980) and Maurice Sendak's Outside Over There ( Harper, 1981). It is not designed for read-alouds, but instead for children and young adults who will tackle careful and repeated consideration of words and pictures. Like Anthony Browne's Hansel and Gretel (Knopf, 1988), this book plays on children's fear of the elderly, a point teachers and librarians may want to raise for discussion. --Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly

In eerily beautiful paintings, the story of a suspected witch's business unfolds, as a Cockney boy hides in a ditch to spy on his neighbor. The old woman nabs him and forces him to help with a peculiar assortment of chores. After gathering sticks in a creepy wood, the two scour fetid swamps in search of turnips. " 'Ere, you scoop this out for yer Hallowe'en lamp," advises the craggy lady. Later when she calls her pet hog by the name of the legendary terror, Baba Yag, the frightened lad races home. This fanciful rhyming exultation, told from the boy's point of view, is laced liberally with dialect and English slang like " 'oppin orf," not to mention the more familiar "bloomin' " and "Cor." The total effect is wondrously rich, jagged syntax notwithstanding. The odd story is complemented by McClure's equally unusual and compelling pictures filled with myriad images that spring from the boy's tormented imaginings. Teams of hens pulling hags on broomsticks, haunting dead sunflowers with drooping heads, and punk witches sporting Mohawk haircuts are among some of the bizarre visual prizes contained in this striking book. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0374384614
• ISBN 13: 9780374384616
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 28
• Illustrator: Gillian McClure